Tournament Reports

When the World Series of Poker folds its tent—except for the November Nine playdown for the madefor- TV finale of the main event—poker tournament action moves to southern California as the Bicycle Casino and Commerce alternate tournaments during the fall, guaranteeing players that there is almost always an Autumn tournament series in the Los Angeles area.

Action at the World Poker Open at the Gold Strike in Tunica, MS concluded in early August, when local player Tyler Smith of Smithdale, MS defeated Jeremy Drewery of Arlington, TN in a heads-up battle to capture the main event, a $5,000 buy-in, nolimit hold’em tournament. Smith’s victory netted him $152,529, while Drewery took home $80,502 for finishing second.

Make Plans Today for Peppermill’s Deep Stack Poker Tournament. This event begins August 25-29, with three events daily and buy-ins ranging from $120-$330. The action begins with a $120 no-limit tournament at noon, followed by a HORSE at 4 p.m., and another $120 no-limit event at 7 p.m. All noon and 7 p.m. events will be nolimit and the 4 p.m. events are as follows: August 26: Omaha; August 27: razz; August 27: 7-stud/8 and August 29: six-handed limit hold’em. Players receive 8,000 tournament chips for the $100 buy-in events, 10,000 chips for the $200 events, and 12,000 tournament chips for the $300 buy-in. The 4 p.m. events will start with 4,000 chips.

Canada’s Jonathan Duhamel leads the way to this November’s finale of the 2010 World Series of Poker main event.

 When the final table was established on July 18, Duhamel held 65,975,000 in chips, nearly 20 million ahead of his closest competitor, John Dolan, who had 46,250,000.

Just because the World Series of Poker is on hiatus until November and the Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker event didn’t kick-off until the end of July doesn’t mean there was a lack of available tournaments in mid- July. There were plenty, and they were spread out across the country. Results from these events that are referenced below are avaliable in the issue now on stands (Vol. 14 Number 4 August 16, 2010).
 

It took two weeks, but the WSOP’s main event has finally been whittled down to nine remaining players: the November Nine, the Novembrists, the final nine, the final table—call them what you will—but just nine remain from a field of 7,319 starters, and one of them will be world champ this November.

LAS VEGAS (July 16, 2010)– When the dust settled at the World Poker Tour® (WPT) Bellagio Cup VI, German poker pro Moritz Kranich prevailed, defeating a deep and talented field of top young guns and well-known veterans to earn the prestigious title of WPT Champion and a seat into the Season IX WPT World Championship. Flanked by WPT Royal Flush Girls™ as he received his prize money, the Hamburg resident took home $875,150 for the win.

Former Detroit Lions player Eric Stocz swept through the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Main Event on May 23 at Soaring Eagle Casino for $117,295. He sacked 273 other players in his eighth attempt to win an HPT title and came out on top, making this the fifth HPT cash of his career. “It was definitely my day,” said Stocz. “I’ve never had better cards than I did at tonight’s final table,” he told HPT General Manager, Jen Mastrud.
 

BRACELET IN $3,000 HORSE
Phil Hellmuth might be the all-time leader in WSOP bracelets with 11, but recent years have seen a much-younger Phil Ivey quickly close the gap. Ivey picked up his eighth WSOP bracelet by taking down Event No. 37, $3,000 HORSE. The mixed-games format drew a loaded 478-entrant field, with Ivey finishing off double bracelet winner Bill Chen for the win and $329,840 in prize money. Ivey’s win was more remarkable in that he fought his way back from shortstack status with 16 players remaining.
 
KASSELA TAKES TWO

After five long, grueling days that began June 25 and didn’t end until June 29, William O’Neil, of College Park, MD defeated New Yorker Mirza Nagji headsup to take the 2010 Borgata Summer Poker Open’s championship event and pocket first-place money of $180,595.